I want a woman as the CM of Telangana soon: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi attended his third election meeting in the Telangana region today at Madikonda, Warangal. Though his address was mostly a repeat of his two previous speeches, he listed out the achievements of Congress government in the last ten years, proposed to make Warangal a second IT city in Telangana, said that he wants to see a woman as the CM of Telangana soon, requested the public to include him in the relationship they had with Indira, Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi earlier. His most poll relevant promise of the speech was the waiver of farm loan waiver up to two lakhs. Here is the full text of his speech….

“You have waited 60 years for the realization of your dream of Telangana. Telangana is going to form as the 29 state of the country on the 2nd of June. All sections of the society fought in this struggle. The Congress party listened to your demand and worked in a democratic, constitutional way to fulfill your demand. Two states are being created, I wish that both regions prosper very fast now. Different parties are in the fray here, but without Congress, Telangana would not have come now. BJP, TDP have opposed the process.

TRS was formed in 2001, but even before that, 40 Congress MLA’s demanded for Telangana with the Congress leadership. When we proposed the bill in the parliament, TRS played no role in it. TRS did not help in the drafting, proposing are in getting the Bill passed. The creation is only the first step of your dream. How will the second step should be? If you really want a strong state, dream big for it. Telangana should have equal place for all sections of the state. The meaning of social justices is that even the bottom most sections of the society also should benefit.

Your leadership should be worthy of your trust. The crux of a leader is his word. Leader of TRS has said that he will merge his party with Congress. He met me, shaked my hand, hugged me and said that he wants our association. But soon he changed his stand, he declined merging with the Congress. No problem. But then, he said he would give the CM seat to a dalit. He has forgotten this too. His focus is entirely on becoming the CM himself.

Congress has big plans, dreams for Telangana. We dream of a Telangana that becomes the manufacturing hub of India. You put Hyderabad on the software products map. Now Congress dreams for you to take it to other products too. We want you to earn the benefit of each product being used here. The 4 thousand megawatt power generation center will help you in establishing such manufacturing zones. The center will be the Country’s biggest. One lakh jobs per year will be provided in government sector, two lakhs in private sector. The TDP government of Andhra Pradesh has said that there is no need for agriculture here. When the Congress government came in 2004, the difficulty in loans for farmers was a major concern. The Congress government took a decisive step and cancelled debts to the tune of 70,000 crores. Opposition has said that such a big write off will not work, but we achieved it.

In the last ten years, the minimum support price for farm products has been tripled in the last ten years, Farm related loans have been increased 7 times. TRS is proposing one lakh rupees loan waiver, but remember, he is known for backtracking his words. You know the commitment Congress feels for each of its promises, MNREGA, Right to Work, Right to Food, protection of Tribals. Now, Congress is making another promise now, TRS announced one lakh waiver, I announce waiver of two lakhs. Congress delivers on its promises, no matter what. We focused specially on Warangal too. We declared Warangal as a heritage city, Railway…. Kantanapalli project with 300 crores, 400 crores textile industry, 10 crore textile, IT park in Vardhannapeta, 250 crores given turning KIMS to AIIMS level, 800 megawatts power project in Bhoopalpally.

Telangana’s second IT city will be Warangal. I have a suggestion for you… I want all the women are included in the development plans of Telangana. You run your homes, you can run the governments too. You should stand as examples to the rest of the country. We gave you 50% reservation in Panchayati Raj. The Self Help Groups of the region have been inspirational to the entire country. I told this myself to the women of UP. You can be an example to all other states of the country.We will give you 33% reservation in legislative bodies too. The same place will be given in the party. We gave you 12 gas cylinders accepting your demand. I want a woman as the CM of Telangana soon.

Running a state, a new state is not easy, we have to take so many persons along with us, inclusive leadership is needed. To make the dream of “Made in Telangana”, “Warangal as an IT city” will not be achieved by TRS, they cannot implement their farm loan waiver also. Give us votes, give us the chance to take all with us in the development process. You have an ongoing relationship with Sonia ji and also with Rajiv ji. Include me in the relationship, even I want to wear a Made in Telangana watch. Thank you for coming to see me.”